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Missile
Torpedoes (also called "missiles" or "nukes"), are powerful self-propelled weapons with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with its target or in proximity to it. They are the standard primary armament on all warships. They acquired this name from marine-based weapons used by destroyers and submarines of an earlier era, but they are really just missiles. Specifications Torpedoes are long-range, guided missile delivery systems that can be fitted with conventional explosives, plasma bombs (which melt armor and damage systems), or nuclear warheads. They are jettisoned from the launcher, align themselves with the target, and then begin accelerating to high speed. They can accelerate far faster than a ship, are hard to dodge and cause devastating damage to a ship on contact, often wiping out smaller ships with a single impact. Torpedoes have a minimum range (they are ineffective within a short distance from the launcher) so they are usually launched first in an engagement. As is seen with the Canterbury's destruction, torpedoes can have the side-effect of turning the "splashed" ship into a destructive field of moving debris, posing a further threat to any other ship in the immediate area. However, torpedoes are vulnerable to point defense cannons (PDCs), which can intercept them before closing to effective range. This is countered by firing them in numbers to overwhelm the PDCs on an enemy ship. Even ships small enough to not be fitted with railguns can carry torpedoes. Frigates, corvettes, and patrol boats have one or two firing tubes. Larger ships like cruisers, battleships, and dreadnoughts carry between 3 and 10 tubes. Ships carrying Torpedoes: Martian Congressional Republic Navy * ''Morrigan''-class patrol destroyer: 2 autoloading forward launch tubes * ''Corvette''-class fast-attack frigate: 2 autoloading forward launch tubes, up to 20 stored torpedoes * ''Scirocco''-class assault cruiser: 5 configurable medium-grade tubes, 5 configurable light-grade tubes * ''Raptor''-class fast-attack cruiser: Multiple launch tubes * ''Donnager''-class battleship: 10 autoloading launch tubes, 6 fore, 4 aft United Nations Navy * Leonidas-class battleship: 32 single-fire launch tubes * Truman-class dreadnought: 9 Autoloading forward launch tubes Outer Planets Alliance * ''Behemoth''-class dreadnought: 6 externally attached launchers, each with 7 single-fire tubes. Private * Protogen stealth ship: at least one flanking concealed launch bay History When James Holden and several crewmates entered the Scopuli to investigate what happened to the ship, a Protogen stealth ship appeared and fired two nuclear torpedoes. While Holden thought at first that the missiles were intended for his group, he realized too late that they were meant for the Canterbury. The massive ship was disintegrated in the blast, killing everyone onboard and turning the hulk into a deadly cloud of flying debris that nearly killed Holden and everyone else on the Knight shuttle. [[Donnager|MCRN Donnager]], when engaging a squadron of stealth ships, fired a swarm of torpedoes that took out one of the six assailants. The remaining five attackers had already fired their own plasma torpedoes, at least two of which impacted and damaged the Donnager's main drive. The two sides then entered the minimum range for torpedoes, finished the battle with railguns and PDCs, and Donnager was boarded. ''Scipio Africanus'', an MCRN patrol ship, was attacked by the Xinglong which slung a shattered asteroid at it and responded with a single, non-nuclear torpedo that instantly vaporized the Belter prospecting ship. During the Battle of Thoth Station, the stealth ship guarding the Protogen research facility fired two torpedoes at the oncoming Guy Molinari. Rocinante, which was flying escort, shot down both torpedoes with her PDCs and moved in to engage in CQB. Following the outbreak of the Protomolecule on the Phoebe research station and the impending arrival of the UNN Nathan Hale, the MCRN ''Scirocco'' bombarded Phoebe with three high-yield nuclear torpedoes, turning the small ice moon into a cloud of fine debris that then fell into Saturn's gravity. While containing the outbreak and preventing the research station from falling into enemy hands, the firing of the nukes heightened the tension between the UN and MCR which had already been near the boiling point for a long time. When Fred Johnson recovered the Nauvoo, he staked claim to it, renamed it the Behemoth, and not only attached 170 PDCs and 6 heavy railgun turrets to the hull, but included 6 launch sets each with 7 single launch tubes in the huge ship's new armament, putting it on par (armament-wise) with Martian and Earth battleships. However, the weapons were hastily mounted onto a ship not designed for military action, and when firing even a single torpedo the ship would suffer a massive power grid failure. The bays also had no autoloading system, so automated drones were used to manually reload the tubes with fresh ordinance. Trivia * A true torpedo is currently defined as "a cigar-shaped self-propelled underwater missile designed to be fired from a ship or submarine or dropped into the water from an aircraft and to explode on reaching a target." * Most ships in the Expanse deploy torpedoes by expelling them from a tube or silo at the front of the ship. Stealth ships, however, open a hatch and jettison them out the side before they engage their target. This is likely as conventional torpedo holes would compromise the stealth design. * Like all accelerating objects in the Slow Zone, torpedoes are locked down shortly after launch, although their boosters will continue to fire. Category:Military Category:Science & Technology Category:Spaceship Armament Category:Technology Category:Weapons Category:UN Navy Category:MCR Navy Category:Outer Planets Alliance